Last week I stopped by Nolan's and talked to Matt, the plant guy.
He had gotten in a handful of small crypts from a customer who line-breeds and grows plants. Very pretty healthy little crypts too, so I got some for Fluffy who's only ever had one of those silly plastic centerpiece trees from the Fluval Chi.

I floated them in his tank for a week with light on them so they'd start dropping leaves. Fluffy had seen the apnogoten that I gave to littleboy for a while, apnogoten are often happy floating around with a large bulb, very versatile plants. So he knew that betta are supposed to swim into and rest in floating plants like little boy (fluffy is 4x the size of little boy).

So the crypt being crypt decided this was abrasion from flow and started dropping leaves... and Fluffy got SO stressed. I planted a different apnogoten in little boy's tank and ended up having to throw out the previous (break-down and sterilize the tank I put it in) so then Fluffy started staring at little boy's planted apnogoten and his floating plants.

The next day almost all the leaves had dropped off the crypt plants...
PANIC!
So to prepare for planting the crypts I had to take out the Lee's sponge filter, heater, ornament thing and most the rocks. I drained the water down to 3 inches (two gallon hex). This didn't help fluffy's mood at all, he started cruising the sides.

So I got rock from splotch's tank to fill the bottom (already cycled rock) and planted two of the crypts in fluffy's tank but when I went to plant the third he started attacking my hands and getting between me and the plant!

I didn't get it in well but he just wouldn't let me get at it! He spent all day that day comparing little boy's aponogoten to his remaining leaved crypt, managed to move some rocks off the second crypt then went to sleep for the evening in the one he had protected.

And woke up a bit later with it holding on to him! I'd only managed to get the heavy stem section buried before he started attacking me. The remaining roots had curled around him for support! She saw him panic and start thrashing, tore off several roots and broke another stem nexus off of it.

Tiny little stem nexus floating at the surface and he'd come up to cuddle it, cause betta are supposed to wiggle into floating plants, damnit! XD

He's figured most of it out now. But still, a four inch flare crowntail cuddling a nine millimeter long leaf... XD